September 29, 2025 • 24 mins
The Inventress Podcast is back! This week I interview Steve Liss, the founder of the exceptional, Forget Me Not!
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Lisa Ascolese
lisaascolese
@the_inventress
Have a new product or idea and need help? Book a consultation with Lisa Ascolese "The Inventress" and take your product from concept to fruition. Email Lisa@InventingAtoZ.com or visit www.InventingAtoZ.com
Listen to the audio version of "The Inventress Podcast" on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and other major podcast platforms by visiting this link: theinventresspodcast - Listen on YouTube, Spotify - Linktree and don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you listen.
Follow "The Inventress" on social media:
Lisa Ascolese
lisaascolese
@the_inventress
Have a new product or idea and need help? Book a consultation with Lisa Ascolese "The Inventress" and take your product from concept to fruition. Email Lisa@InventingAtoZ.com or visit www.InventingAtoZ.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everybody. I'm Lisa ask the Inventress.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the CEO and founder of Inventing a to z
and here we are today on my podcast, The Inventresses Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Make sure you subscribe.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm super excited today because I have a very very
special guest on. His name is Steve Liss. Steve is
the inventor of the Forget Me Not Forget Me Not
safety product.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Hello, Steve, how are you well?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I'm great, Lisa, how are you? Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So Steve, this is a very innovative, incredibly creative product
that is needed by the whole world.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
How you doing, Steve, I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Great.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Thank you for giving me a platform to kind of
talk about this and get the word out to people.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, it's important, it's important.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So Steve, let's talk about what made you invent Let's
talk about what it is first. What is Forget Me Not?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Okay, Forget Me Not is an apparatus that's easily put
into any type of car seat, and it is a
device that will remotely tell a parent if they've done
the unthinkable, which is leave their child behind. And it happens,
It happens, and it's happening more now than ever. People
are more stressed out, they're going in multiple directions, they're
(01:20):
not getting good sleep. Some people are hungover for the
entire day because of sleeping pills they took at night,
or they're not at their top of their a game
because of anti anxiety pills that they're on the world
is becoming a more complex place every day, and even
the greatest parents out there can sometimes have a you know,
(01:41):
a spot in their life where somehow, because of the
rigors of life, they do the unthinkable and they get
their child and the results can be absolutely devastating, the
obvious as well as the collateral damage to an entire family.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And it does. I mean, I've seen things.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
In fact, not that long ago, not far from where
I live in Lakewood, there was a woman who I mean,
she had several children, she has had like five children.
She was exhausted, took all of her children in the
house and forgot that the baby was in a seat,
and unfortunately, you know, the baby's no longer here, you know,
(02:21):
and the whole family. I mean, you're talking, like you said,
collateral damage. You're talking to parents, the grandparents, the children,
the other children, the other siblings. You know, it's devastating
in so many ways, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And both both the maternal and the paternal side. It's
going to be it's going to affect everyone to some extent.
It's it's something that a family could never come back
from entirely. You know, you can with time, the pain
may ease to an extent, but it's going to be
a life altering things. An It's an unthinkable thing to
have happened as a parent. I'm a parent of three children,
(02:56):
and the idea of having to go through that is
just unimaginable.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So what triggered this for you? Did you see something,
did you read about something? What was it?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Yeah? I mean what initially triggered this specifically for me
was my in laws live in Florida. My wife and
I go down there every year, one time the end
of December and another time in April. It was a
couple of years ago, several years ago, maybe already now,
where we had gone down and it was national news.
(03:27):
A father by all standards, a great father, great man,
was running chores with his daughter that day, infant daughter,
two years old, and the unthinkable happened. He went into
one of his appointments for I think this was probably
the longest appointment he had of that day. And by
the time he got out in the you know heat
(03:50):
of Miami, the child had passed, and not only did
he have to endure that pain, he was charged with
voluntary manslaughter and placed in jail for four and a
half years. My gosh. Yeah, So from a compassion standpoint,
I thought this was as devastating as anything I'd ever heard,
(04:14):
and needless to say, my heart went out to him
and I said, you know what this is. This is
a problem that we're hearing about all too often, and
if I could think of something to rectify it and
do something that is easily affordable to all walks of life,
then you know, let me try.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, And you've done that, and you made yours very
very different, very very creative, and I mean, I think
what we want to do is get this product license.
At this point, it's done, it's well made. You did
an incredible job. You made it very different from anything.
I mean, I think yours is pretty much one of
the first on the market the way it's been made.
(04:53):
And so you're patented, right, Steve, Yes, Yep, you're completely patented.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Trademark as well, yep trademark pat yep ready to start production.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I love it. And you have you have a website,
it's what is.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
A website Forget me Not dot com?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Forget me Not dot com or I think you have
both Forget me Not Alert dot com. And we're going
to have some social media. I'm sure some sort of
social media. So people just really start taking a look
at your words talking about you know you giving this
information is very very.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Important, super important. So you said you have three children.
What is your youngest.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
My youngest Siana just turned five.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Oh, very sweat, very sweet.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
And your oldest, my eldest is just turned seventeen a
month ago.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Wow, oh happy birthday.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
In your middle he's six and a half.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So so sweet.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So I mean this even today, well not the seventeen
year old, but the little ones, this could this could
still happen. You know, people run into this or not
realized the kid is sleeping in the backseat. Let me
just do run in real fast, run in very very quickly.
You know, a great back and it's hot and there's
no air, no circulation, you know, yeah, very.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Very rapidly temperatures inside inside a car can rise over
one hundred and thirty degrees.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
My gosh, so your is because you have great features
and benefits.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Yeah, I mean, listen, it's a simplistic product, it really is.
It uses break beam laser technology. It simply is something
that you place on the seat. If the child is
sitting on it, then the beam is broken. And if
you have a keyfob that you know goes on your keys,
or goes in your pocket, or goes in your purse,
(06:50):
and if that beam is broken and you walk more
than twelve feet away from the car, you get an
alert that tells you, hey, there's something still left in
that seat, your child.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
It sounds so insane to people who do not have
children and who don't understand, you know, the multitasking when
it comes having children.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Having one is a lot, right, especially.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Today, we have multiple ways people are contact contacting us.
We're on the phone, we're on the computer, we're getting
text messages, all of these things that never happened many
years ago. I mean when I was growing up, we
had a home phone, and I mean that was it.
If you weren't contacted at home on the home phone,
you were not.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
On your phone.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
There was no phone, right, So the busyness, and like
you mentioned, we're exhausted. People are exhausted, I mean and
so so being so tired. And you also mentioned the
medications that people are on sleeping pills, can't sleep, staying awake,
whatever it is. It's it's just it's a constant thing.
It's so it's so much, there's so much pull on
(07:57):
our brains and the you know, just the content, the
constant contact.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
It's overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, I mean, that was the word I was going
to use. It's overwhelming. And frankly, the irony of it
all is that as we become more advanced technologically, technology
is supposed to make life easy, easier for us. The
irony of that is, in my opinion, it's making things
more complicated. And you know, you know what I'm saying,
And people are being pulled in so many in such
(08:25):
a myriad of directions. They've got so many things on
the plate that it becomes life can become for the
best of us, overwhelming mentally, physically, emotionally, And you know,
the I get it. For some people if they haven't
visited the idea of this, if they haven't thought about it,
or they haven't heard about it that you know, some
people might be scratching their head and saying, you know,
(08:46):
come on, nobody leaves their child in the car. Yes,
there are dozens of children dying every year in this
country and throughout the world because of something that could
easily be rectified with one little, easy piece of an apparatus.
That's you know, doesn't encumber your life, it doesn't encumber
(09:07):
the car. You wouldn't even notice that it's in the seat.
Practically everybody should have it, everybody.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I mean, kids are in car seats never up until
what have many pounds or.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Whatever the age it comes down. It comes down to
two pounds and uh and height, but I don't have
those exact figures. But you know, in a nutshell, most
children are going to be in a car seat until
they're four, about four, and then they're going to be
in a booster seat until they're around seven even eight.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
So booster seat as well.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I mean, it doesn't matter because the kids can still
fall asleep.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, they can fall asleep, and you know, you know
you mentioned my kids. My kids usually don't fall asleep,
and if they're not sleeping, they're talking, so they actually
of it. Happening with my two little ones. They're probably
not likely, but listen, I mean my first son's he
was not a great sleeper, and sometimes to get in
the sleep, I'd put him in the car and we
take a couple of rides around the block and he'd
(10:02):
fall down, and then I'd gingerly carry him out and
put him in his bed. So for many children, the
car is like, you know, it's like a sleeping dog.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
My granddaughter Olivia, the second she's in the car, especially,
she's no longer napping, right, so the napping stage is gone.
She thinks she doesn't need a nap, but clearly she does.
The second we're in that car, I see her going off,
going off in a day's car days and then she's out,
(10:34):
she's out, and it's very easy with quiet. And for
a mother or father or grandparent whatever, you now, you're
this is your downtime, right, the baby's sleeping in the backseat.
If you're downtime, you're running to the pharmacy, you're running here,
you're running there. You're forgetting now that the child is
in the car because they're so quiet. Yeah, And I
(10:56):
think in many instances that's what happens I read something
that there was a guy who, well maybe the same story,
went to work. He went to work and the baby
at the end of the day. I mean, it's horrifying
to even talk about. That's why I mean, I'm so
grateful that you did. You were the creator, the inventor
(11:16):
of this product. Forget me, not because it can. I mean,
it can happen to the best, the best, you know,
best parent, it doesn't matter, you know, like you said,
you're exhausted or you know, just it's really important that
people are aware that this product exists. And I don't
care if anything nothing happened. I pray to God nothing happens.
(11:38):
But it's important that everybody is aware of this product.
And it will be up for licensing and we want
to talk about that and at some point manufacture it
will be manufactured, but right now this product is up
for licensing, so we're looking at big corporations to license
this product, and it's imperative that it gets on the market.
(11:59):
It's really important and I so appreciate that you did this.
And you know, you have a collaborative effort. Obviously you
have your family involved and the kids are involved, and
your your design, your logo is amazing. So it's important
to have that collaborative effort too. You made this with
your family.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Absolutely, My wife has played a very integral role in it.
She's done really all the design work as far a yeah,
the logo, design of the product, but the logo and
all of that stuff Rigamara that I haven't you know,
gotten myself involved in per SE's She's been the brain child.
(12:40):
That's been the brainchild of her.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
She's a great, great support system, and it's important to
have that. Now, I want to speak to those inventors
out there, you know, tell inventors like, what is your
feeling on inventing or you're an inventor, we know that, well,
I do. What's your feeling on inventing? And when you
come up with a great idea, what are your thoughts
on that?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Well? I mean, you know, for me, this particular item
and anything else that I might bring to the forefront
in the future, I mean, it goes it goes on
a much more personal level for me than just the
idea of inventing something. You know, if I may, I'll
tell you a little bit of background and kind of
way how I came to where I'm at in particularly
(13:23):
with this product and maybe some other products that I
might bring to the market, you know, listen stating the
obvious money is a necessity in life, you know, we
need it for food or clothing, for shelter, other things.
But there's certainly more to life than money. There's much more.
There's purpose, there's meaning, and those two examples, what could
(13:47):
be better than combining them with the ability to, you know,
create a money stream for yourself that's more than just
earning a living, that's earning a living with purpose and
with meaning. I think that, Yeah, I think I might
be so impassioned by this because my father was an
orthopedic surgeon. He took the oath of Hyppocrates literally to
(14:09):
help people. Money was very much secondary to him. It
was a byproduct of his care. It was a side effect.
And I think his life was filled with purpose. I
know it was filled with purpose, and it's always been
my vision to follow, you know, perhaps in his footsteps
to some degree. So that was kind of how forget
(14:30):
me not happened when I saw this tragedy occur with
this young man. And you know, not only did he
lose his child, he lost his freedom or you know,
once he regains his freedom, his life will be it
will never be the same. It just it couldn't be.
You know, how could you how could you come back
from something like that?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Right?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
And that was just that was the motivation. That's that's
what brought me to kind of just formulate what could
possibly be done to stop this in the future.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
I love your I love that.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I love that Steve, and I love your Your heart
is great, obviously, I mean you're looking at you're following
obviously in your father's footsteps.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
It's life saving.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
What you're doing is a what you've created is a
life saving product that those people out there now listening
and watching you have to understand and realize that this
can happen to you. You know, those late nights and
overnights and kids not sleeping, and you nuts, if your
child isn't sleeping, you're not sleeping either in the middle
(15:37):
of the night, and this can happen. It can happen
to anybody. So you've created a product that is for.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Everyone, everyone, every grandparent, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I mean I I have car seats in my car,
you know, in addition to my children, they're having car seats,
and in my car seat, I need the forget me not.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I need forget me not in my car.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Seat because it's super easy to forget your child or
your grandchild because of the busyness of what we are
entangled with today.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
M hm, it really is. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Anyway, any other words, any any advice that you want
to give to as a parent, as an inventor.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, yeah, you know, Listen, I became fortunate in my
life that I got myself into a position financially as
well as from a support standpoint with my wife that
I was able to go forward with things that I had,
you know, thought about. I've been I've had the ability
to have moments of genesis pretty much my whole life
(16:44):
where I just look at situations. I look at things
and I can kind of figure out something that could
improve that situation or maybe something that's like, for instance,
I'll give you for instance. I had an economics class
in college and it was basically philosophical economics. Absolutely none
of us had any idea what this professor was talking about.
(17:06):
So much so every single person failed this class. Everyone.
So he made the grading scale from fifty percent down. Okay,
so we actually all passed because instead of grading on
a Hunter scale. He graded on a fifty scale. That's
how bad it was. I mean, it was full on
philosophical economics. He was an interesting fellow, and none of
(17:27):
us had a clue what he was talking about. But
one thing that does stand out in my mind, pretty
much like the first thing I thought of, was he
gave us an assignment for something to increase the income
of the state. I live in New Jersey, so increase
the income of the state while while making the state
(17:51):
run more efficiently. And it was right around that time
that barcode started coming out on food. You went to
a grocery store, and there were very few stores like that,
but it happened to be the one store closest to
me where I was living going to college had it.
It was a store called Sea Town, and they were
(18:11):
using that. Yeah, and they would scan the barcode and
you know, while then you know, it's ringing it up
on the on the register. So I knew that. You know,
the tolls on the Garden State Parkway and on the
Turnpike really really slowed down traffic tremendously. It's a source
(18:32):
of a lot of frustration as well as traffic building up. Yeah,
as well as the fact that there's a lot of
toll violators, and there was there wasn't really a great
way that they were getting those you know, get getting
the money back from those that violated the tolls. So
they're losing a tremendous amount of state income. So I
had this idea. I was like, well, wait a second,
(18:53):
if they've got bar codes that can they can put
on food, why can't they create a bigger system where
basically you're you're driving through and it's scanning a barcode
in your car. And that's what I came up with,
and I basically created easy Pass four years before it
came to fruition in the state New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
That was just looking at a situation from a logical standpoint.
So I guess that I think the number one thing,
the number one takeaway for anybody that might have aspirations
to event or they believe they have the ability, just
look at everything with critical thinking. Look at everything, even
if it's something that's established, look at it in a
(19:32):
tangential way where it can be approved upon or maybe
completely revamped in a way that you know, other people
don't think. I mean, I would say that certain people
have a propensity for this, and certain people don't. You know,
certain people have a propensity for being you know, opera
singers or basketball stars. Even if somebody aspires to do
(19:54):
these things, if they don't have the ability, the natural ability,
they're not really going to be able to thoughts through them.
So I just think, you know, for me, it was
just something that I think I'm was fortunate enough that
I have just that innate kind of eye for things
that I look at things with a critical eye, and
(20:14):
I also look at things that even if it's established,
I'm always thinking of ways that it could be done better.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
I love that, Steve, because a lot of inventors, will,
you know, say to me, you know what I thought
about that. No, someone stole my idea, right right, someone
stole my idea. But how many First of all, great
minds think alike. Great minds do think alike. When there's
a problem out there and you're a problem solver, the
(20:43):
inventor comes up with a solution to that problem.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
In your in your head usually or in a journal.
But you're always coming up. I know that when you see.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Something, you immediately are coming up with a solution to
that problem.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Right, I'm trying, and I've done it, you're time. Yeah,
I've done it many times. But I never brought anything
to Fruition. I didn't have the capacity, I didn't have
the financial wherewithal. I certainly didn't have the support team
of an amazing wife who you know, will try and
help me achieve anything that's that's in our best interest.
(21:16):
So the pieces of the puzzle weren't there. And then
you know, I could give several other examples of things
that I formulated and thought in my mind, and two
or three years later they came to Fruition on the
market and I saw them, you know, So I it's
not that I said I got tired of seeing things
that I had created in my mind and not brought
(21:37):
to bear in the market. It's just everything aligned, the
stars aligned. And then, you know, my empathy and compassion
was really stoked by this horrible story. And I mean,
you know, listen, as bad as it is to have
this unthinkable thing happen to add insult to injury, then
the man was thrown in prison for four and a
(21:59):
half years, right, so exactly his entire world was crushed.
And you know, if I could do anything to prevent
that happening, even one other family and one other person.
Why wouldn't I right?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And you did, and you have, you have, and that's
very encouraging for those inventors out there who are listening.
Just because you see something doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.
You can recreate or redissign if it came to your mind.
It's meant to be right.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Absolutely, don't put limits. Don't put limits on yourself at
all or anything, especially with creativity. I mean, creativity has
it's boundless. There's no limits to your creativity.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So you have that in factor though, Steve, and you're
you're fortunate enough, like you said, to have a support system.
Your wife is amazing. I work with her and just amazing,
amazing person. It's really important to have that support. If
you don't have it, it's it's tough.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
It is tough.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Absolutely. I mean not to sound corny, but there's no
truer words that were ever said. Behind every good man
is a great woman. And she's great. She's amazing. I've
never met anybody like her.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
And shout out to shout out. And she's an author,
by the way, to.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Everybody, Yes, he's an amazing author.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So you support each other. And this has been an
amazing journey with you.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I love working with you. You're both fabulous people.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Your your your your ability to be so positive and
uplifting and encouraging is is unbelievable. It's been a pleasure
working with you.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Well, it's a pleasure working with you. I couldn't do
it without you.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Both of you.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Appreciate having you on our show today.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And so social media not yet, right, We're getting there, that's.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Okay, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
But by the time this show airs and you will
have social media, it will definitely be on social media.
And so it's forget me Not so on every platform
it will be forgetting And the website is forget Me
Not Alert and we'll have that written properly for the
podcast when it airs. So thank you Steve so much.
Thank you, Sabina, thank your family for your support. So
(24:13):
appreciate having you on today. Steve, so thanks, what a blessing.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Thank you so much. We appreciate you. Thank you.
Hi everybody. I'm Lisa ask the Inventress.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the CEO and founder of Inventing a to z
and here we are today on my podcast, The Inventresses Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Make sure you subscribe.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm super excited today because I have a very very
special guest on. His name is Steve Liss. Steve is
the inventor of the Forget Me Not Forget Me Not
safety product.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Hello, Steve, how are you well?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I'm great, Lisa, how are you? Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So Steve, this is a very innovative, incredibly creative product
that is needed by the whole world.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
How you doing, Steve, I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Great.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Thank you for giving me a platform to kind of
talk about this and get the word out to people.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, it's important, it's important.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So Steve, let's talk about what made you invent Let's
talk about what it is first. What is Forget Me Not?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Okay, Forget Me Not is an apparatus that's easily put
into any type of car seat, and it is a
device that will remotely tell a parent if they've done
the unthinkable, which is leave their child behind. And it happens,
It happens, and it's happening more now than ever. People
are more stressed out, they're going in multiple directions, they're
(01:20):
not getting good sleep. Some people are hungover for the
entire day because of sleeping pills they took at night,
or they're not at their top of their a game
because of anti anxiety pills that they're on the world
is becoming a more complex place every day, and even
the greatest parents out there can sometimes have a you know,
(01:41):
a spot in their life where somehow, because of the
rigors of life, they do the unthinkable and they get
their child and the results can be absolutely devastating, the
obvious as well as the collateral damage to an entire family.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And it does. I mean, I've seen things.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
In fact, not that long ago, not far from where
I live in Lakewood, there was a woman who I mean,
she had several children, she has had like five children.
She was exhausted, took all of her children in the
house and forgot that the baby was in a seat,
and unfortunately, you know, the baby's no longer here, you know,
(02:21):
and the whole family. I mean, you're talking, like you said,
collateral damage. You're talking to parents, the grandparents, the children,
the other children, the other siblings. You know, it's devastating
in so many ways, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And both both the maternal and the paternal side. It's
going to be it's going to affect everyone to some extent.
It's it's something that a family could never come back
from entirely. You know, you can with time, the pain
may ease to an extent, but it's going to be
a life altering things. An It's an unthinkable thing to
have happened as a parent. I'm a parent of three children,
(02:56):
and the idea of having to go through that is
just unimaginable.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So what triggered this for you? Did you see something,
did you read about something? What was it?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Yeah? I mean what initially triggered this specifically for me
was my in laws live in Florida. My wife and
I go down there every year, one time the end
of December and another time in April. It was a
couple of years ago, several years ago, maybe already now,
where we had gone down and it was national news.
(03:27):
A father by all standards, a great father, great man,
was running chores with his daughter that day, infant daughter,
two years old, and the unthinkable happened. He went into
one of his appointments for I think this was probably
the longest appointment he had of that day. And by
the time he got out in the you know heat
(03:50):
of Miami, the child had passed, and not only did
he have to endure that pain, he was charged with
voluntary manslaughter and placed in jail for four and a
half years. My gosh. Yeah, So from a compassion standpoint,
I thought this was as devastating as anything I'd ever heard,
(04:14):
and needless to say, my heart went out to him
and I said, you know what this is. This is
a problem that we're hearing about all too often, and
if I could think of something to rectify it and
do something that is easily affordable to all walks of life,
then you know, let me try.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, And you've done that, and you made yours very
very different, very very creative, and I mean, I think
what we want to do is get this product license.
At this point, it's done, it's well made. You did
an incredible job. You made it very different from anything.
I mean, I think yours is pretty much one of
the first on the market the way it's been made.
(04:53):
And so you're patented, right, Steve, Yes, Yep, you're completely patented.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Trademark as well, yep trademark pat yep ready to start production.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I love it. And you have you have a website,
it's what is.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
A website Forget me Not dot com?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Forget me Not dot com or I think you have
both Forget me Not Alert dot com. And we're going
to have some social media. I'm sure some sort of
social media. So people just really start taking a look
at your words talking about you know you giving this
information is very very.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Important, super important. So you said you have three children.
What is your youngest.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
My youngest Siana just turned five.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Oh, very sweat, very sweet.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
And your oldest, my eldest is just turned seventeen a
month ago.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Wow, oh happy birthday.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
In your middle he's six and a half.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So so sweet.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So I mean this even today, well not the seventeen
year old, but the little ones, this could this could
still happen. You know, people run into this or not
realized the kid is sleeping in the backseat. Let me
just do run in real fast, run in very very quickly.
You know, a great back and it's hot and there's
no air, no circulation, you know, yeah, very.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Very rapidly temperatures inside inside a car can rise over
one hundred and thirty degrees.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
My gosh, so your is because you have great features
and benefits.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Yeah, I mean, listen, it's a simplistic product, it really is.
It uses break beam laser technology. It simply is something
that you place on the seat. If the child is
sitting on it, then the beam is broken. And if
you have a keyfob that you know goes on your keys,
or goes in your pocket, or goes in your purse,
(06:50):
and if that beam is broken and you walk more
than twelve feet away from the car, you get an
alert that tells you, hey, there's something still left in
that seat, your child.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
It sounds so insane to people who do not have
children and who don't understand, you know, the multitasking when
it comes having children.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Having one is a lot, right, especially.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Today, we have multiple ways people are contact contacting us.
We're on the phone, we're on the computer, we're getting
text messages, all of these things that never happened many
years ago. I mean when I was growing up, we
had a home phone, and I mean that was it.
If you weren't contacted at home on the home phone,
you were not.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
On your phone.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
There was no phone, right, So the busyness, and like
you mentioned, we're exhausted. People are exhausted, I mean and
so so being so tired. And you also mentioned the
medications that people are on sleeping pills, can't sleep, staying awake,
whatever it is. It's it's just it's a constant thing.
It's so it's so much, there's so much pull on
(07:57):
our brains and the you know, just the content, the
constant contact.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
It's overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, I mean, that was the word I was going
to use. It's overwhelming. And frankly, the irony of it
all is that as we become more advanced technologically, technology
is supposed to make life easy, easier for us. The
irony of that is, in my opinion, it's making things
more complicated. And you know, you know what I'm saying,
And people are being pulled in so many in such
(08:25):
a myriad of directions. They've got so many things on
the plate that it becomes life can become for the
best of us, overwhelming mentally, physically, emotionally, And you know,
the I get it. For some people if they haven't
visited the idea of this, if they haven't thought about it,
or they haven't heard about it that you know, some
people might be scratching their head and saying, you know,
(08:46):
come on, nobody leaves their child in the car. Yes,
there are dozens of children dying every year in this
country and throughout the world because of something that could
easily be rectified with one little, easy piece of an apparatus.
That's you know, doesn't encumber your life, it doesn't encumber
(09:07):
the car. You wouldn't even notice that it's in the seat.
Practically everybody should have it, everybody.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I mean, kids are in car seats never up until
what have many pounds or.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Whatever the age it comes down. It comes down to
two pounds and uh and height, but I don't have
those exact figures. But you know, in a nutshell, most
children are going to be in a car seat until
they're four, about four, and then they're going to be
in a booster seat until they're around seven even eight.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
So booster seat as well.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I mean, it doesn't matter because the kids can still
fall asleep.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, they can fall asleep, and you know, you know
you mentioned my kids. My kids usually don't fall asleep,
and if they're not sleeping, they're talking, so they actually
of it. Happening with my two little ones. They're probably
not likely, but listen, I mean my first son's he
was not a great sleeper, and sometimes to get in
the sleep, I'd put him in the car and we
take a couple of rides around the block and he'd
(10:02):
fall down, and then I'd gingerly carry him out and
put him in his bed. So for many children, the
car is like, you know, it's like a sleeping dog.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
My granddaughter Olivia, the second she's in the car, especially,
she's no longer napping, right, so the napping stage is gone.
She thinks she doesn't need a nap, but clearly she does.
The second we're in that car, I see her going off,
going off in a day's car days and then she's out,
(10:34):
she's out, and it's very easy with quiet. And for
a mother or father or grandparent whatever, you now, you're
this is your downtime, right, the baby's sleeping in the backseat.
If you're downtime, you're running to the pharmacy, you're running here,
you're running there. You're forgetting now that the child is
in the car because they're so quiet. Yeah, And I
(10:56):
think in many instances that's what happens I read something
that there was a guy who, well maybe the same story,
went to work. He went to work and the baby
at the end of the day. I mean, it's horrifying
to even talk about. That's why I mean, I'm so
grateful that you did. You were the creator, the inventor
(11:16):
of this product. Forget me, not because it can. I mean,
it can happen to the best, the best, you know,
best parent, it doesn't matter, you know, like you said,
you're exhausted or you know, just it's really important that
people are aware that this product exists. And I don't
care if anything nothing happened. I pray to God nothing happens.
(11:38):
But it's important that everybody is aware of this product.
And it will be up for licensing and we want
to talk about that and at some point manufacture it
will be manufactured, but right now this product is up
for licensing, so we're looking at big corporations to license
this product, and it's imperative that it gets on the market.
(11:59):
It's really important and I so appreciate that you did this.
And you know, you have a collaborative effort. Obviously you
have your family involved and the kids are involved, and
your your design, your logo is amazing. So it's important
to have that collaborative effort too. You made this with
your family.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Absolutely, My wife has played a very integral role in it.
She's done really all the design work as far a yeah,
the logo, design of the product, but the logo and
all of that stuff Rigamara that I haven't you know,
gotten myself involved in per SE's She's been the brain child.
(12:40):
That's been the brainchild of her.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
She's a great, great support system, and it's important to
have that. Now, I want to speak to those inventors
out there, you know, tell inventors like, what is your
feeling on inventing or you're an inventor, we know that, well,
I do. What's your feeling on inventing? And when you
come up with a great idea, what are your thoughts
on that?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Well? I mean, you know, for me, this particular item
and anything else that I might bring to the forefront
in the future, I mean, it goes it goes on
a much more personal level for me than just the
idea of inventing something. You know, if I may, I'll
tell you a little bit of background and kind of
way how I came to where I'm at in particularly
(13:23):
with this product and maybe some other products that I
might bring to the market, you know, listen stating the
obvious money is a necessity in life, you know, we
need it for food or clothing, for shelter, other things.
But there's certainly more to life than money. There's much more.
There's purpose, there's meaning, and those two examples, what could
(13:47):
be better than combining them with the ability to, you know,
create a money stream for yourself that's more than just
earning a living, that's earning a living with purpose and
with meaning. I think that, Yeah, I think I might
be so impassioned by this because my father was an
orthopedic surgeon. He took the oath of Hyppocrates literally to
(14:09):
help people. Money was very much secondary to him. It
was a byproduct of his care. It was a side effect.
And I think his life was filled with purpose. I
know it was filled with purpose, and it's always been
my vision to follow, you know, perhaps in his footsteps
to some degree. So that was kind of how forget
(14:30):
me not happened when I saw this tragedy occur with
this young man. And you know, not only did he
lose his child, he lost his freedom or you know,
once he regains his freedom, his life will be it
will never be the same. It just it couldn't be.
You know, how could you how could you come back
from something like that?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Right?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
And that was just that was the motivation. That's that's
what brought me to kind of just formulate what could
possibly be done to stop this in the future.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
I love your I love that.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I love that Steve, and I love your Your heart
is great, obviously, I mean you're looking at you're following
obviously in your father's footsteps.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
It's life saving.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
What you're doing is a what you've created is a
life saving product that those people out there now listening
and watching you have to understand and realize that this
can happen to you. You know, those late nights and
overnights and kids not sleeping, and you nuts, if your
child isn't sleeping, you're not sleeping either in the middle
(15:37):
of the night, and this can happen. It can happen
to anybody. So you've created a product that is for.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Everyone, everyone, every grandparent, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I mean I I have car seats in my car,
you know, in addition to my children, they're having car seats,
and in my car seat, I need the forget me not.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I need forget me not in my car.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Seat because it's super easy to forget your child or
your grandchild because of the busyness of what we are
entangled with today.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
M hm, it really is. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Anyway, any other words, any any advice that you want
to give to as a parent, as an inventor.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, yeah, you know, Listen, I became fortunate in my
life that I got myself into a position financially as
well as from a support standpoint with my wife that
I was able to go forward with things that I had,
you know, thought about. I've been I've had the ability
to have moments of genesis pretty much my whole life
(16:44):
where I just look at situations. I look at things
and I can kind of figure out something that could
improve that situation or maybe something that's like, for instance,
I'll give you for instance. I had an economics class
in college and it was basically philosophical economics. Absolutely none
of us had any idea what this professor was talking about.
(17:06):
So much so every single person failed this class. Everyone.
So he made the grading scale from fifty percent down. Okay,
so we actually all passed because instead of grading on
a Hunter scale. He graded on a fifty scale. That's
how bad it was. I mean, it was full on
philosophical economics. He was an interesting fellow, and none of
(17:27):
us had a clue what he was talking about. But
one thing that does stand out in my mind, pretty
much like the first thing I thought of, was he
gave us an assignment for something to increase the income
of the state. I live in New Jersey, so increase
the income of the state while while making the state
(17:51):
run more efficiently. And it was right around that time
that barcode started coming out on food. You went to
a grocery store, and there were very few stores like that,
but it happened to be the one store closest to
me where I was living going to college had it.
It was a store called Sea Town, and they were
(18:11):
using that. Yeah, and they would scan the barcode and
you know, while then you know, it's ringing it up
on the on the register. So I knew that. You know,
the tolls on the Garden State Parkway and on the
Turnpike really really slowed down traffic tremendously. It's a source
(18:32):
of a lot of frustration as well as traffic building up. Yeah,
as well as the fact that there's a lot of
toll violators, and there was there wasn't really a great
way that they were getting those you know, get getting
the money back from those that violated the tolls. So
they're losing a tremendous amount of state income. So I
had this idea. I was like, well, wait a second,
(18:53):
if they've got bar codes that can they can put
on food, why can't they create a bigger system where
basically you're you're driving through and it's scanning a barcode
in your car. And that's what I came up with,
and I basically created easy Pass four years before it
came to fruition in the state New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
That was just looking at a situation from a logical standpoint.
So I guess that I think the number one thing,
the number one takeaway for anybody that might have aspirations
to event or they believe they have the ability, just
look at everything with critical thinking. Look at everything, even
if it's something that's established, look at it in a
(19:32):
tangential way where it can be approved upon or maybe
completely revamped in a way that you know, other people
don't think. I mean, I would say that certain people
have a propensity for this, and certain people don't. You know,
certain people have a propensity for being you know, opera
singers or basketball stars. Even if somebody aspires to do
(19:54):
these things, if they don't have the ability, the natural ability,
they're not really going to be able to thoughts through them.
So I just think, you know, for me, it was
just something that I think I'm was fortunate enough that
I have just that innate kind of eye for things
that I look at things with a critical eye, and
(20:14):
I also look at things that even if it's established,
I'm always thinking of ways that it could be done better.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
I love that, Steve, because a lot of inventors, will,
you know, say to me, you know what I thought
about that. No, someone stole my idea, right right, someone
stole my idea. But how many First of all, great
minds think alike. Great minds do think alike. When there's
a problem out there and you're a problem solver, the
(20:43):
inventor comes up with a solution to that problem.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
In your in your head usually or in a journal.
But you're always coming up. I know that when you see.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Something, you immediately are coming up with a solution to
that problem.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Right, I'm trying, and I've done it, you're time. Yeah,
I've done it many times. But I never brought anything
to Fruition. I didn't have the capacity, I didn't have
the financial wherewithal. I certainly didn't have the support team
of an amazing wife who you know, will try and
help me achieve anything that's that's in our best interest.
(21:16):
So the pieces of the puzzle weren't there. And then
you know, I could give several other examples of things
that I formulated and thought in my mind, and two
or three years later they came to Fruition on the
market and I saw them, you know, So I it's
not that I said I got tired of seeing things
that I had created in my mind and not brought
(21:37):
to bear in the market. It's just everything aligned, the
stars aligned. And then, you know, my empathy and compassion
was really stoked by this horrible story. And I mean,
you know, listen, as bad as it is to have
this unthinkable thing happen to add insult to injury, then
the man was thrown in prison for four and a
(21:59):
half years, right, so exactly his entire world was crushed.
And you know, if I could do anything to prevent
that happening, even one other family and one other person.
Why wouldn't I right?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And you did, and you have, you have, and that's
very encouraging for those inventors out there who are listening.
Just because you see something doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.
You can recreate or redissign if it came to your mind.
It's meant to be right.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Absolutely, don't put limits. Don't put limits on yourself at
all or anything, especially with creativity. I mean, creativity has
it's boundless. There's no limits to your creativity.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So you have that in factor though, Steve, and you're
you're fortunate enough, like you said, to have a support system.
Your wife is amazing. I work with her and just amazing,
amazing person. It's really important to have that support. If
you don't have it, it's it's tough.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
It is tough.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Absolutely. I mean not to sound corny, but there's no
truer words that were ever said. Behind every good man
is a great woman. And she's great. She's amazing. I've
never met anybody like her.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
And shout out to shout out. And she's an author,
by the way, to.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Everybody, Yes, he's an amazing author.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So you support each other. And this has been an
amazing journey with you.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I love working with you. You're both fabulous people.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Your your your your ability to be so positive and
uplifting and encouraging is is unbelievable. It's been a pleasure
working with you.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Well, it's a pleasure working with you. I couldn't do
it without you.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Both of you.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Appreciate having you on our show today.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And so social media not yet, right, We're getting there, that's.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Okay, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
But by the time this show airs and you will
have social media, it will definitely be on social media.
And so it's forget me Not so on every platform
it will be forgetting And the website is forget Me
Not Alert and we'll have that written properly for the
podcast when it airs. So thank you Steve so much.
Thank you, Sabina, thank your family for your support. So
(24:13):
appreciate having you on today. Steve, so thanks, what a blessing.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Thank you so much. We appreciate you. Thank you.
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